


Trust Is Like A Piece Of Paper

by awhitehead17



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Arguments, Cass being awesome, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hugs, Mending friendships, References to Canon, Robin Christmas Exchange, talking through things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-01-08 06:49:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21231572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awhitehead17/pseuds/awhitehead17
Summary: Tim's recently been ignoring all of Steph calls, too bad Cass won't let him get away with it any longer.





	Trust Is Like A Piece Of Paper

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amuk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amuk/gifts).

> Done for the Robin Christmas Exchange 2019, so Merry Christmas! 
> 
> There are references to canon throughout the story and this is based probably around the end of the Red Robin comics. I hope this is alright and that you enjoy it! :D

He was laughing so hard that he couldn’t breathe. Tears were rolling down his cheeks, his stomach was beginning to cramp and his cheeks were hurting from where he was smiling so much. He was beginning to wheeze just because he couldn’t take a big enough breath to get air back into his lungs.

Opposite him Cass seemed to be in a similar state, though not as bad as he was. After all it was her fault he was so breathless to begin with.

He and Cass were sat in his apartment after a rough patrol. They hadn’t meant to be together, just halfway through the night they bumped into one another and stayed together. Good thing too because they came across a gang war which got messy pretty quickly. Cass had come away perfectly fine, not even breathless, while Tim was sporting a few new bruises and a small stab wound in his upper arm. He may be _slightly_ sleep deprived which may have affected his performance.

After that fun adventure the two of them called it a night and ended up going back to Tim’s apartment. Before he could even say anything Cass was there pushing him down on the couch and going to grab his first aid kit. Knowing it wasn’t worth the fight, Tim allowed his sister to sew him up without much complaint.

Once he was sewed they got cleaned up, ordered some food and chilled out in his living room. It was nice and Tim was thoroughly enjoying himself, it’s been a long time since he last saw Cass and had a good catch up with her and he certainly can’t remember the last time he had a night like this after patrol.

While he was in the middle of his laughing fit, his phone starts to ring. As he pats around for it as he tries to get himself together enough to answer it, he takes a few deep breaths, but couldn’t help the occasional giggle as he does so. By the time he grabs it he’s calmed himself down enough to be able to breathe normally and hopefully to be able to talk properly without sounding breathless.

When he sees the caller ID he immediately sobers up, suddenly unable to find it in himself to even smile at that moment. He stares at his phone as it continue to rings, unable to make himself answer it. It’s when it finally stops that he turns it off and looks at Cass who was watching him with a steady glance. He sends her a smile despite knowing that she’ll be able to read straight through him.

He puts the phone on the coffee table in front of them and shrugs noncommittedly. “It’s nothing,” he lies, “just an unknown number.”

His sister doesn’t look convinced. He sits back into the sofa, not as relaxed as before, and tries to start up the conversation again with her. She wasn’t having any of it however, she stares at him for a long moment before glancing at his phone and back at him again.

Tim pouts and waves his hand around uselessly, “It’s fine Cass, it’s nothing.”

She’s still not taking his bullshit. Wordlessly she leans forward and reaches for his phone, before he could think it through and almost in a panic, Tim also reaches forward in order to stop her. As he should have expected it doesn’t go according to plan, in one quick movement she had his wrist locked between her fingers and his phone in her other hand.

Tim blinks at her in astonishment, just trying to comprehend what had happened. He loves Cass, he really does, but sometimes she scares the living daylight out of him.

As she lets him go she looks almost apologetic, together they both lean back into the sofa and Tim watches her closely as she opens his phone up and starts going through it. Whatever emotion she was feeling she doesn’t show it, or at least Tim couldn’t read her. He wasn’t as good at reading body language as she was.

A moment later she was looking up at him over the phone, this time she was letting her emotions show on her face. Confusion, worry and questioning. “Why you ignoring her?”

Tim looks away, feeling both ashamed and embarrassed. There was a lot on conflicting feelings he had and he had no idea on how to describe them, especially since they’re mostly all based around _her_.

He shrugs, “I – Its nothing.”

“It’s not nothing.” His sister replies back simply. “Nothing doesn’t have you like this.” She places the phone back down on the coffee table.

He refuses to make eye contact with her and shakes his head. “It’s complicated Cass. I just can’t speak to her right now. Our relationship, well whatever of it is left, is all kinds of complicated. After what she’s done and what I’ve been through its just…” he trails off not knowing how to finish the sentence.

His relationship with Steph was currently very bumpy. Before everything that had happened, they were fine, great even, but now he doesn’t know _what_ he feels for her. For the past couple of weeks she had been trying to contact him outside of the capes, but every time he either ignores her calls or brushes her off with a ‘_Sorry, I can’t, I’m busy_’. He feels slightly bad for it but he just doesn’t know if he can face her and talk about everything between them.

It wasn’t surprising that Cass knew though. His sister just knows everything, it was creepy as it was enduring. Then again Steph has probably been talking to her, so Cass was getting her side of the story. That thought makes him a little uneasy, who knows what she’s been saying to his sister about him.

His leg getting nudged gets his attention, he looks over at Cass to find her staring at him. He turns away, frowning at the floor, “Cass I don’t think I can. I just can’t see her right now. With everything’s that’s happened, we won’t be the same. I don’t know if we can rekindle some kind of friendship once again, I mean I know I’m in a better place than what I was but even so…”

“You don’t know unless you try. Speak to her.”

“Cass…”

She firmly nudges his leg this time, almost pushing him off the couch. “Do it.”

He raises an eyebrow, “What? Now?” At her firm nod he looks at her incredulously. “Cass I don’t think I can.”

Clearly his sister has had enough of him because she’s suddenly leaning over and grabbing his phone off the coffee table once again.

“Hey!”

He reaches over to try and snatch his device back but Cass keeps him away with a painful grasp on his wrist. He watches helplessly as she begins to call someone.

“It’s Cass, hello, fine, come over now to talk. I’ll keep him here. Yes. Please, bye.”

Cass looks completely unapologetic as she lets him go and hands his phone back to him. “She’s bringing pizza, will be 10 minutes.”

Tim sends her a pleading look, “Please Cass come on, don’t make me stay.”

“You need to talk.”

Tim sighs heavily and melts into the back of the couch, resigning his fate. This is something he hadn’t planned for, something he hadn’t wanted to face yet.

It’s 15 minutes of anxious waiting until there was a knock at the door. Cass is the one to get up and answer it and soon enough Steph’s bubbly voice could be heard through the halls.

“I got PIZZA.”

A ton of feelings hit Tim as she rounds the corner and enters the living room. Happiness, giddiness, anxiousness, dread, guilt. He had no idea what he should be feeling as she places down the boxes of pizza on the table and grins at him.

He gives a weak smile and an awkward little wave. “Hey Steph.”

“Hey Boy Wonder, how are things?”

“Alright…”

Things go quiet and very quickly it becomes awkward. Tim looks down at the boxes while Steph shuffles uncomfortably from where she’s standing. Thankfully that’s when Cass, the saviour that she is, steps in and says, “Pizza?”

Steph picks up again then. “Oh yeah! Sorry I’m a little late, the pizza guys were taking _forever_ in making them. I got two figuring that should be enough to cover us.”

That’s when she opens up the boxes and moves around the table so she’s sat on the couch with Tim, thankfully on the opposite side, Cass comes along and settles between them. They each reach in and grab a slice and start munching.

“So what happened to you guys tonight? Tough patrol?”

“We handled it,” Cass states firmly, but then she glances at Tim with a small smirk, “Well I did.”

He jabs his sister in the ribs, “Rude. Nothing more than a gang war, some idiot got a lucky shot in.”

Steph hums in agreement, understanding what he meant. The three of them fall silent again as they continue to eat. They easily demolish the first pizza and get started on the next. By then Tim was more than ready to run away. The silence was heavy and tense, it was starting to get to him. He figures he should turn the TV on or even the radio just so there was some sort of background noise because the quietness between them was super unsettling.

It was when they were halfway through the second pizza that the silence was finally broken. Cass jumps up between them, steps around the coffee and glares at the two of them, putting her hands on her hips and everything.

“You two need to talk. Now. Settle things. This is more harm than good.”

With Cass glaring at them like that, it made Tim feel like he was in school once again and was being scolded at by the teacher. He glances over to the side to find Steph staring back at him and quickly averts his gaze.

“Right…” he says meekly.

There was too much and too little for them to talk about. Even so what was he supposed to start with? _I’m sorry I’ve been ignoring you? I don’t know how I feel about you? What can we piece back together?_

He’s saved though because it was Steph who talks first. “I know things are different, _way_ different, to what they were before. But Tim, I’ve been trying to contact you, trying to fix what’s happened but you’re the one that’s been ignoring me, not the other way around.”

Tim swallows thickly, nosing slightly. “Yeah I know. Things are different and I – I have been ignoring you Steph.”

“Why?” She demands. She’s pissed off and hurt, Tim could hear it in her voice.

“Because I don’t know what I’m feeling Steph!” He says, almost shouting. He looks at her sharply. “I don’t know what to feel around you anymore. You betrayed me, you didn’t trust me. It was the wrong time, when everything was happening. I lost my dad, you _faked_ your death and didn’t tell me, Bruce died, both Conner and Bart died, Dick took Robin away from me and then you guys all came back but then you betrayed me because Bruce told you so! I can’t forgive you for that Steph!”

“I was trying to protect you Tim!” She yells. Her anger is apparent in the way she jumps up to her feet and starts wildly gesturing. “Everything I did was to protect you! Bruce wanted to protect you!”

“What you did was wrong!” He shouts back also jumping to his feet. He was feeling hurt, angry and betrayed. “You betrayed my trust, went behind my back just so I could be a ‘better Robin’. You worked with the enemy, you faked your death and didn’t even tell me.”

“I did what I thought was right! I never wanted to hurt you Tim, I was only-”

“Well you did Steph! In the worst way possible.”

He was shaking now. His hands were trembling from where he was getting emotional with both frustration and hurt. He takes a few deep breaths in an attempt to control his breathing to try and calm himself down.

When it doesn’t really work, he’s way to wound up now for it too really work anyway, he shakes his head. “I can’t do this.” He mutters to no one. He couldn’t do it. _Doesn’t_ want to do it. Wordlessly he turns away from Steph and starts making an exit, planning to leave and get some fresh air, just so he’s away from this situation, but a hand on his chest stops him from going.

He startles at the contact and looks wide eyed at Cass who was looking at him sympathetically. He had completely forgotten she was there.

His sister shakes her head, “Keep talking.” She demands gently.

“It’s not like you’ve been innocent this whole timer either Tim! Remember telling me to never get back in the costume?”

Steph says almost venomously behind him, another wave of anger washes through him but before he could retort she was speaking again, this time softer. 

“But we’ve moved past that now, I want to make things right Tim! I’ve been trying to earn your trust back ever since, I thought we were getting better. What can I do to make this work? I know that you want it to work also, we can do this if you give it a chance to. _Please_.”

Most of her anger has left her voice now, she’s pleading him, _begging_ him, but he still doesn’t know what to think or feel.

He turns away from Cass and glances at the blonde with an almost resigned sigh. “Steph, I love you, I do, but I don’t think I can trust you anymore, or at least to the extent I used to.”

She opens her mouth to speak up, he cuts her off before she could. “Trust is like a piece of paper Steph. Once it’s crumpled, or in this case _ripped_, you can try and flatten it out but it’ll never be perfect again. You lost my trust and I don’t know if I can ever trust you again.”

“I get that Tim. I do. Let me earn it back, however long it takes, I will try and get it back.”

Tim shakes his head disbelievingly, “Steph…”

“What about us being friends? Do you trust me enough that way. It doesn’t have to be capes Tim, our relationship doesn’t have to be that way. I want you in my life Tim, if this is the way we go about it then fine, I just want to be there for you, and you for me.”

Tim blinks at the floor trying to work out what’s going on. It hurts him to say that he doesn’t trust Steph, or if he will ever be able to again, but deep down he knows it’s true. He wants her in his life but just not the way they were before, would they be able to keep up some kind of relationship outside the caped community? That’s how they met after all.

Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea, if they both want it, both put in the effort, maybe they could get it to work after all. Maybe…. Well you never know until you try.

He turns to Steph, “Yeah okay… friends – _just friends – _outside of the caped community. We can give it a go I guess.”

Her face lightens up, looking hopeful and Tim suddenly feels nostalgic. “Really? You want to give it a go.”

He swallows thickly, “We’ll take it slow, things won’t go back to the way they were right away, probably won’t for a long time, but we’ll take it slow and see.”

Steph nods, “Yeah that’s right, exactly.” She steps forward then, towards in and holds up a hand. “Friends?”

He looks at her hand for a moment, hesitating. Was this a good idea? Should he do it? What if it all just blows up once again. He peers over his shoulder at Cass who was watching their interaction with an eagle eye, she catches his look and gives a firm nod. He turns back to Steph and grasps her hand.

“Friends.” He agrees.

She smiles at him and he couldn’t help but smile back. There’s still a part of him which thinks this is a terrible idea, after everything they’ve both been through they were not the same as they were at 14 and 15. On the other hand he’s getting more into the idea of giving it a go, considering how close they were once before they might make it work in the end.

Still holding onto his hand she slowly pulls him in and starts to wrap her arm around him, she does it so there’s plenty of time for him to pull away if he doesn’t want the hug. He surprises her though, he steps the rest of the way and wraps his own arms around her. They hug for a moment before Steph was pulling away but not letting go. She looks over his shoulder and makes a gesture with her hand, after a couple of seconds Tim feels a second body press up against his and he sees his sister fitting into the hug.

He smiles at her, and wraps one arm around her and the other over Steph and holds them both. Things weren’t good before but hopefully now they’ll get better.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope this was okay, I haven't written anything like this before, especially with these characters altogether so I apologise if it's a little messy. I'm also sorry if any details are inaccurate, it's been a little while since I last read the comics. Either way I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
